Counting the Cost

Posted on Sat Mar 11th, 2023 @ 10:29am by Commodore Phoenix Lalor-Richardson & Captain Gary Taylor & Lieutenant Commander Aurelia Taylor & Commander Sthilg & Lieutenant Colonel Azhul Naxea & Commander Arrianna Salannis an Vantar & Lieutenant Commander Alicia Kelea-Salik & Lieutenant Victor Barclay de Tolly & Lieutenant Commander Rin & Consul Andrinn Orin & Lieutenant JG Miraj Derani & Commander Kyle Reece

Mission: Season 6 : Episode 1: Circinus
Location: P Class World - Command building
Timeline: MD10 16h00
3894 words - 7.8 OF Standard Post Measure

IC

The building was small, but they had managed to squeeze in a console and several chairs. The Senior staff were all summoned to the building to discuss the situation. Everyone was bundled up in winter clothes.

Once they were all gathered, Phoenix looked towards Gary and waved at him to commence. He was still in command as far as she was concerned.

Gary stood and walked to the front of the cramped building. He stood silently for a few seconds, his eyes sweeping the faces of those gathered to hear what he has to say. He could see the questions in their eyes. Hopefully he could give them a few answers. His eyes went to Phoenix who was still recovering from her injuries and to Lia who thankfully was uninjured and still with them, ready to assist in any way.

"Right." He started. "Here's where we stand. We are some thirteen million light-years from home." He waited as that fact registered on the stunned faces of those present. "Yes." He continued. "You heard right. Thirteen million lightyears. So, as you can see, we have our work cut out for us. As to specifics, the Elysium is hurt, severely crippled. But with hard work and everyone's help, repairs can and will be made. It will take time and I am not about to give you a time frame at this point. Repair teams will be shuttled to the Elysium to begin repairs. Life support on the ship will not accommodate the entire crew at this point So the majority of the crew will be here, our temporary home. I wish we could have found a nice tropical world, but we didn't have many options. We will begin repairs on the major systems as well as repairing the structural integrity of the ship. We're also going to repair Avalon, get her where she can access the entire ship. She can see and find things we can't." He paused, his eyes stayed on the faces of the others, Lia, Phoenix, Kyle, the Doc, Alicia and all the others. "We suffered major casualties. I don't have an exact number yet, but it appears to be over thirty percent of the crew was lost. It means more work for all of us. Work that has to be done. So, work together, put aside any differences you may have. It's all hands onboard for this. Help isn't coming people. It is all on us. Failure, is not an option. I will come by later and speak to you all individually to address your departments concerns. " He paused, "Any questions? I can't promise any encouraging answers, but I will do my best to answer your questions."

Kyle spoke up first. "As the academy annex is a luxury at the moment, all of my able-bodied cadets and instructors will be available for use as you need them. As for myself, as I was the Ely's first Chief Tac Officer, I can be of use with repairs there, if needed. I know it's been a few years, but I still know my way around the old girl's insides."

Gary smiled gratefully at Kyle and his offer. "Thank you, Kyle. Your cadets and instructors are most welcome and will be put to good use. In addition I am sure that Lieutenant Khalten and the Tactical department will be most apprective of your help."

“We lost a few in Engineering,” Victor sighed, “It is never easy writing letters to the family.”

“Captain” Alicia looked towards Gary. “Given the sheer amount of crew who will be needing the services of the Counselling department, we could use the help of any able bodied crew who have counselling experience. I know it’s a long shot but with so many people to help, we’re going to need all the help we can get.”

"It may be a longshot Alicia, but it is still a shot." Gary replied to Alicia's request. Before he turned to the others. "All you other department heads, you heard Alicia's request get it out to your people. The counseling department needs people with counseling experience." He addressed Alicia again, "Let me know how it goes Alicia. You may be able to use some of Kyle's counseling cadets to help you and the other counselors."

“Actually that’s a very good idea Captain” Alicia smiled. “It’ll be hands on experience for the cadets in these difficult circumstances. At the very least they can shadow us to learn in real time.”

Gary nodded, "Glad to help Alicia, use them as you see fit, where they will be of the most help to both those who need it and the other counselors."

Sthilg looked like a gorn who hadn't slept in a week. His head nodded as he did his best to stay awake." I'll do anything I can do to help Alicia, but we have many wounded that need medical attention."

"Doc, what I told Alicia applies to you as well. take some of the medical cadets and use them to help you and your staff. Their hands Doc and they can ease the burden you and your staff are under." Gary replied to the CMO.

Alicia looked towards her father, she could see just how exhausted Sthilg was. “First things First you need some rest. You can’t help anyone if you’re suffering from exhaustion.”

"Better listen to her Doc. Alicia is your daughter and chief counselor, so she really knows best." Gary joked.

"As long as we have a SIF we can fly when ever we need to, but if we want to stop suddenly, then we need the inertial dampeners fully fixed. I'd rather have helm control from the main bridge, but its a bonus not an must have." Miraj offered.

Naxea listened to the offers and advice from the others. There wasn't much her Marines were trained in other than basic first aid and blowing things up. The latter wouldn't be of any use unless this planet had a hostile alien species on it, which she doubted in these temperatures. "Sthilg, if you need any of my Marines for help with the wounded, count them in," she stated.

Orin was listening to everything that was going on and all of the questions being answered. He knew that he probably wouldn't be much help, unless someone came along and they needed to make some sort of first contact.

However, if it was true that they were some thirteen million light years away from the Federation, you never knew what or who you could have met out here. It was an exciting prospect of potentially meeting some new aliens or making first contact with them. But, Orin waved that thought away for a moment because the Elysium needed help and Orin wanted to offer his department for helping out.

When the moment allowed for it, Orin smiled and interjected into the conversation, saying, "Well, I don't know much about much of anything beyond the basic engineering and medical courses that we all took at the academy. However, if you need to use my diplomatic or protection teams, you're more than welcome to use us where you see fit, Commodore and Captain."

Gary nodded at Orin. "Thank you, Orin, your offer is appreciated."

Lia now stood up and looked around the assembled members, "You all know me and how I think, and so I will be as brief as I can." She took a breath and continued, "I intend to split the Security department into two units, the smaller of the two here on the planet under my command. They will assist where needed and in any role required, the second and larger unit will remain on the Elysium. They will be under the command of Lieutenant Commander S'hib, they will also serve where needed and in any role. But will assist in defence of the ship if needed, as most of the Marines are here I thought a smaller Security force would do." She now stopped and took another quick glance at the people before her, "Now for an idea which I would like opinions upon, that is we set up and dispatch a flight of two or three fighters. Their mission would be recon, see what and possibly who is about. The what is to find the things we need to repair Elysium, the who is secondary but important for our own defense." She now sat back down and waited for the reactions her words might provoke.

As Lia sat, Gary spoke up. "Thank you, Lia. I think those are excellent suggestions as well as prudent especially in regard to the fighter patrols. Personally, I think two fighters will do but I'll talk with Jessica later and get her ideas as well."

"I know that we've just gotten onto the planet, but have we made any sort of contact with anybody? Friend, foe, or otherwise? If we have or if there's anyone out there, maybe they can help us with our predicament? It doesn't have to be just the sharing of technology to help us with repairs, but information would be helpful," Orin asked, curious as to what the various fighters, shuttles, and runabouts might have found out while making runs.

"Counsel, as far as the latest information I have, we are the only people on this planet. No one else just us. We're going to have to get ourselves out of this but if we do come across anyone. I'll let you know." Gary replied.

Phoenix spoke up "You all know your teams. You all know who you are missing. Try and make up the gaps as best you can, and keep an eye on them. Counseling is always available"

"The Intel Department is an eclectic group of people. I'll contact department heads about who might be able to help out where. Most of us are probably most useful working with Science to analyze the resources of the this planet, both from the perspective of collecting data and also providing security," Rin volunteered.

"Very good Rin. I'll leave it to you and the department heads to coordinate how your people are used." Gary answered.

"i hope you all know that you can rely on each other" Phoenix said softly

Alicia nodded in agreement with Phoenix’s comment. “Right now they all needed each other.

Chuck, being the only enlisted member of the crew present in the meeting, spoke up. "My enlisted personnel are getting the various systems sorted when the arrive, than follow the orders of their department heads on what to do." He paused briefly, before continuing.

"Perhaps, once all of the necessary units are built and the crew are moved in, it would be a good idea to set up some kind of MWR facility. That way, everyone would have a place that they could unwind in."

Alicia nodded. “That’s a very good idea, the crew could use something to help given the confines of where we are, and the situation we’re in. Something to help would benefit greatly.”

"Good idea Mr. Finely." Gary replied to the COB. "Alicia, once the building is up, you and your staff decide what needs to go into the building so everyone can enjoy and make use of it." Gary answered.

Alicia looked at Gary surprised. “Right, Okay” she nodded. “I’d like input from others as to what they’d like as well, it would make it easier.”

"Get input from whoever you feel necessary Alicia." Gary answered with a smile.

“You can count on Engineering,” Victor nodded.

Miraj raised her hand. "I'm still short about thirty regular pilots. So if anyone knows anyone who can handle type 9s or danubes, and is at a loose end, can you ask them if they don't mind helping out, if its not a bother?"

"Certainly Miraj, we'll all pass the word and hopefully you will get some more pilots for the shuttles and runabouts." Gary replied.

Orin chimed in and said, "Well, I've been helping one of the pilots named Jason bring patients and medical supplies down from the ship. I don't know how many of the diplomats might know how to pilot various auxiliary craft, but I don't see that it would be hard to teach them if the need arises. Heck, some might have even piloted stuff on their homeworlds. So, this might be a run in the park. I can ask around to see who might know how to fly, not even in just the diplomatic corps."

"Cadets can help out as well." Phoenix said. "And I am still a qualified pilot."

"Commodore," Naxea spoke. "You should try to take it easy until Sthilg gives you the green light. She felt bad at not ever having taken piloting lessons but she was a Starfleet Marine, the Fleeters had always don all the flying so there was never a need for her to learn how to pilot small spacecraft.

Lia looked over to Gary, "Captain Taylor, is it true that our resident Ojnas found another ship while she was outside checking the damage on Elysium? And if she did, wouldn't it be prudent to check that ship? Find out who they were and what happened to them?"

Phoenix looked at Gary and raised an eyebrow. They had enough issues without borrowing more. She would however, wait and see what he would say.

Gary met Phoenix's gaze and gave a short nod before turning to Lia. "This news to me Commander and I have heard nothing about this other ship. I can assure you that the Commodore and I will look into this and find out if a ship was indeed discovered and take the appropriate steps."

"I know that I've said this like a million times, but if there's someone out there, I'd love to meet them. Even if it's a matter of getting onto their ship, I might know a few non-standard tactics to get onto their ship, especially if they're less than able to talk to us. If there's ever a landing party, just let me know," Orin said, slightly scratching his back as he thought back to the times when he was younger and had to help a former CO get onto a Klingon Battle Crusier.

Arrianna spoke. "Our main issue will be energy. Depending on how long our rations last in this environment, we will have to start using the replicators, Depending on how long we spend here, our energy demands will only increase, even with rationing. I am going to work with Engineering to locate additional energy sources we could exploit." Arri noted. "If we can find as many renewable energy sources as possible, it will invaluable to our heaters and replicators." She mentioned.

Phoenix was about to speak when an aide came in and handed her a padd. She took it, and began to read. She sighed and stood up. "Final counts are in." she said softly. "Of our original compliment of 2500 people we are down to 1649."

Here she paused. Gave it time to sink in.

"Of our officers, from 380 we are down to 247. Enlisted from 1710 to 1111. Marines from 128 to 98 and our civilians are down from 282 to 193."

“Ohh my lord!!” Alicia shook her head. “Such losses!”

'Josie!!' Arrianna thought internally without giving a reaction as her heart skipped a beat, she kept her composure, after the meeting was dismissed, and she had a moment, she needed to see if she was alive.

Phoenix placed the PADD Down. "We all have a duty of care to the remaining crew to make sure our vessel is repaired and safe for us to attempt to travel home. I know you all understand that. Doctor Sthilg and his team are working to make sure that number does not change. I know we all are doing the same."

Gary heard the numbers and closed his eyes briefly. He knew the numbers would be high but hadn't thought they would be this high. The numbers served to spur him on and make him more determined that the crew got home, that those who had perished would be remembered. Their deaths would not be in vain.

'Thirty more deaths,' Naxea thought to herself as she remained quiet. It would be thirty more messages she would have to send to parents or significant others. She was slowly beginning to hate the Elysium. Ever since she was a child she had known death and loss. It had begun with her father, then childhood friends, and then fellow Starfleet Officers. At least she had S'hib and now Sle'anna.

'More death. How can I continue on like this?' Arrianna thought to herself, She was growing more introverted.. Talking to herself now, silent thoughts. 'What am I afraid of, loosing my crew, loosing my sanity, loosing Josie. I've already lost so much.' She thought to herself. 'I am tired of this.. Tired of everything. I will hold on tighter now and not let go.' She thought to herself. Trying to keep them away from Alicia's senses.

Sthilg said nothing simply puttinghis head down on the desk and crossing his arms over his head. How many of them had he not manged to save? Freinds, ship mates and family all gone because of him.

Phoenix noted the anguish on her senior staff. "I know this is a lot to handle. Talk to counselors, your family, make sure you take care of yourselves as well."'

Mira remembered what Neri had said, and made a note to get Alicia to come and see the shattered remains of Flight Control. She'd lost nine out of ten of her staff, and the handful left were at each others throats. Mostly because they weren't allowed to tear out hers.

"Phoenix... Everyone..." She looked at them with the same look in Phoenix's eyes. "We will go home. I know it. If we got here, we can return to where we were. The moment the Ely is running again, I'll put all my efforts into figuring this out. I swear it."

""Arri, we are all in this together, we will work as a team to get home. This doesn't fall to one person. It is a group effort." Gary replied solemnly.

Arrianna nodded. "I can surmise it had something to do with the interactions between our Quantum Slipstream Drive and the Quantum Filament. If I can figure out what happened in these interactions, I might be able to reproduce the effect that brought us here." Arri noted, "Best case scenario is that we'll return home, and discover quite possibly a means of Faster than light propulsion that would make intergalactic travel a possibility." Arri noted. "I find this rather fascinating and alarming at the same time."

As Phoenix read out the casualty list, Lia simply cast her eye's upwards. Her thoughts were with those who had lost loved ones, just how many of her department had she lost? Glancing at Gary she uttered a silent prayer that both of them had survived, she now turned her attention back to what was being said. "Imik's people have a vast knowledge of deep space travel, couldn't we use her to bounce idea's off? If I remember my Ojnas history, didn't they just travel for about three thousand years? She might have a few idea's or even solutions we haven't thought of."

Gary saw Lia glance his way and thought, *I know Lia, we're lucky. We both survived.* However aloud he addressed her statement/question. "Definitely an avenue to explore Lia. We'll arrange a meeting with Imik and get her ideas on our situation." He finished.

"Right now we need to survive, When we get the Elysium's main power online, I'm going to gather a think tank of our best and brightest in our crew and pour over every kiloquad of data. Right now our tasks should be what we need to survive. Rations will take us so far, so we'll need a renewable energy source. This planet is in a mid-tier ice age." Arri noted. Fortunately it has a great deal of geological activity. I think I and Lt. de Tolly can construct geo-thermal generators near several the geysers and fumaroles that this planet possesses, but I wouldn't recommend using them as a source of direct heat. It's not just steam that is coming out of them. It's also water, carbon dioxide, sulfur, and a host of other chemicals. Suffice to say, it's toxic enough to kill an elephant, and scalding hot."

Phoenix listened and then took a breath. "Does anyone else have things to add?"

"I know that I'm one of the newest members of the crew, but I think it gives me such a distinct perspective on this wonderful crew. Even from the last few hours and days, we've come together and we'll make the best out of this situation. We've got this more than we know," Orin said simply, taking a seat on one of the crates nearby, taking everything in as he listened to the causality reports that came in from the various departments.

Alicia moved from her seat to move around to her father, seeing him with his reptilian head down on the table with his arms across the top worried her. Sthilg had always been so strong for her, now it was her turn to return that strength. She moved beside him and gently placed her hand on his arm.

Sthilg didn't look up but feeling his daughter's hand on his arm made his arm move instictuly giving his daughter a reassuring hug. " I'm okay little one I jussst need time to think." he said calmly and as reassuringly as he could muster.

Alicia appreciated the hug, right now she needed it as much as Sthilg needed her reassurance. It wouldn’t do for the Chief Counsellor to be seen in a stressed out state.

Phoenix, taking in the mood. "Dismissed" she said softly.

Orin watched and waited for a moment before standing back up and flipping his hood over his head, allowing him to stay warm as he began to head outside into the brisk air of the planet that they've come to call home for the moment. He knew the next few hours and days would be critical, but his mind kept drifting back to Sam and that's where he decided that he would go. He wanted to be with him for a little bit before heading back to do anything else.

As everyone started filing out, Kyle moved over to Gary and the Commodore. "If there is anything more I can do, please let me know. I have heard that Woolheater has been going on solo recon missions along the surface. If you want, I can take a shuttle up, after it delivers a repair crew to the ship, and scout the far side of the planet and surrounding area?"

"By all means Kyle, we need to know what our new home has to offer in places to avoid as well as places that are safe." Gary replied.

Phoenix nodded. "A good idea. Get people moving and not sitting thinking too much." She said softly.

Off.

===Author Notes===

1. MWR: Moral, Welfare and Recreation. The unit set up would have various forms of entertainment that the crew could enjoy.